Police union takes step that could force arbitration

As promised, a union negotiator on Tuesday mailed a petition that could force an arbitrator to forge a Saginaw police contract this year.

The city manager is firing back, saying the city won't budge on the negotiation's sticking point until at least 2010.

Saginaw police have worked under an expired contract since July 2005. Talks turned ugly this week as representatives began exchanging critical words publicly.

James Tignanelli, the police union negotiator and president of the Police Officers Association of Michigan, said the breakdown forced him to mail a petition to the state's Employment Relations Commission that could bring an adjudicator to the table within nine months.

"It's certainly their right to do that," said City Manager Darnell Earley, who has received the bulk of the union's criticism. "We will make the same case in front of an arbitrator that we made to them."

The third-party member will listen to both sides' arguments and make a binding decision, Tignanelli said.

The chief sticking point is a wage increase. Police want one, and Earley has taken a stand that no city employee will receive a pay bump -- including himself -- as Saginaw recovers economically.

That hard line has resulted in six other city agencies working without a contract, including firefighters.

To budge on the stance for police would set a precedent that could result in pay increases for the other groups and hurt Saginaw finances, Earley said.

He doesn't intend to reconsider unfreezing wages until after the self-imposed two-year policy expires in 2010.

On Tuesday, Earley fired back at several arguments union president and Saginaw Police Officer Ruben Vasquez made on Monday.

Vasquez said public safety will suffer if a contract isn't reached soon because Saginaw's wages aren't competitive with other agencies. About 40 officers plan to retire within four years, and he doesn't believe the city can fill the vacancies on the existing pact.

"I'm telling you, right now, it's coming," he said. "There's more at stake here than some wages. It's going to be too late, and it's going to cause a lot of problems."
Candidates for down-the-line openings have decreased to 54 this year compared with 1,600 in 1994, he said.

Vasquez also had said the city's pact pays its most experienced officers $49,000 a year while Saginaw Township police earn $56,000 yearly, Saginaw County sheriff's deputies bank $54,000 a year and Flint's top cops make $52,000 annually.

On Tuesday, Earley criticized those comparisons, pointing out that Flint and Saginaw County forces are suffering.

The Sheriff's Department faces $1.9 million in potential cuts that, if enacted, officials say could devastate road patrol coverage and eliminate a detective bureau.
Flint voters could decide in August on a three-year, 6.9-mill tax to put more police on a staff some believe is understaffed.

"We've already been there and done that," Earley said.

Saginaw voters passed a five-year, 6-mill public safety tax in May 2006.
Vasquez said he agreed those other agencies are "distressed."

"Yet look what their officers are making," he said.

The two sides also disagree on the math involved in contract proposals. Vasquez said the union has offered an economic package that saves the city money in the long-term by cutting back on other benefits, while Earley said the opposite is true.